VLSI Technology Partners with The Athena Group in U.S. Commerce Department Advanced Technology Program Award.SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 1997-- 10x Gain in Digital Signal Processing See DSP. Digital Signal Processing - (DSP) Computer manipulation of analog signals (commonly sound or image) which have been converted to digital form (sampled). Chip Price/Performance Goal of Research Effort VLSI Technology Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :VLSI VLSI: see integrated circuit. (1) (Very Large Scale Integration) Between 100,000 and one million transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, LSI and ULSI. (2) (VLSI Technology, Inc., Tempe, AZ, www.semiconductors. ) and The Athena Group Inc., are strategically partnering to develop advanced digital signal processing (DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive ) technologies under terms of an award announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology, governmental agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce with the mission of "working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards" in the national interest. (NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. ) Advanced Technology Program (ATP ATP: see adenosine triphosphate. ATP in full adenosine triphosphate Organic compound, substrate in many enzyme-catalyzed reactions (see catalysis) in the cells of animals, plants, and microorganisms. ). For the project, The Athena Group will work with VLSI to develop integrated circuit elements and support software implementing advanced DSP techniques that could result in cost/performance gains up to ten times over those of current generation DSP chips. Total project funds amount to $1.86 million over the three year life of the effort. VLSI will have rights to manufacture and market circuit blocks and support software developed through the project. Fred Taylor, president of The Athena Group said: "The Advanced Technology Program award is not only a prestigious validation of the work we've been doing in digital signal processing, but it will help bring this technology to market several years sooner than otherwise would be the case. "Improved DSP technology will have a significant impact on American industry and products and services available to end consumers. Partnering with VLSI means that our advanced concepts will be implemented by a truly world-class semiconductor manufacturer." Bob Payne, VLSI's vice president of strategic technologies said: "Digital signal processing is a key technology enabling advanced consumer and commercial communications, imaging and multimedia products. Our role in the project will be to help The Athena Group convert DSP theory into silicon practice. "Needless to say, DSP is also a technology with direct application to VLSI's communications, consumer digital entertainment and computing custom silicon businesses." Athena-VLSI Research and Development Program Athena will cooperate with VLSI to develop new integrated circuit elements and software support that implement advanced signal processing algorithms based on Residue Number System A residue number system (RNS) represents a large integer using a set of smaller integers, so that computation may be performed more efficiently. It relies on the Chinese remainder theorem of modular arithmetic for its operation, a mathematical idea from Sun Tsu Suan-Ching (RNS RNS Regulatory News Service (UK stock market) RnS Rinnovamento Nello Spirito (Italian: Renewal in the Spirit) RNS Ribonukleinsäure (German: RNA) RNS Residue Number System ) mathematics. RNS mathematics focuses on how machines can most efficiently perform common arithmetic operations such as addition, multiplication and subtraction subtraction, fundamental operation of arithmetic; the inverse of addition. If a and b are real numbers (see number), then the number a−b is that number (called the difference) which when added to b (the subtractor) equals . The tangible results from the Commerce Department-funded development project will include reusable RNS-based DSP circuit building blocks, chip design software and programming tools for software applications running on chips based on the new technology. Digital signal processing, which models analog phenomena such as visual images, radio waves Radio waves Electromagnetic energy of the frequency range corresponding to that used in radio communications, usually 10,000 cycles per second to 300 billion cycles per second. , sounds and even the functions of a car engine as streams of digital data, depends on intensive number crunching Refers to computers running mathematical, scientific or CAD applications, which perform large amounts of calculations. See number cruncher. (application, jargon) number crunching to depict, analyze, make decisions about and reshape signal characteristics. Radically improving the performance of DSPs could bring new products to market such as ultra-low-emission car engines, high- resolution-full motion medical imaging devices, silent aircraft cabins, ultra-high speed communications over bandwidth-limited phone lines and radio channels, and 3-D-virtual reality television. The Advanced Technology Program Administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and technology, the Advanced Technology Program's mission is to stimulate U.S. economic growth by developing high risk and enabling technologies through industry-driven cost-shared partnerships. To achieve these objectives, the program awards research funding to private sector organizations based on a rigorous peer-reviewed proposal selection process. For more information, reference the program's web site, www.atp.nist.gov . The Athena Group Inc. Founded in 1986 and based in Gainesville, Florida, The Athena Group performs research and development of advanced digital signal processing technologies. Projects undertaken by The Athena Group include applying DSP technologies to solve problems in the areas of medical imaging, communications and military reconnaissance. Visit the company's web site at www.athena-group.com . About VLSI Technology Inc. VLSI Technology Inc. designs and manufactures System-Level Silicon(TM) integrated circuits based on its FSB (FrontSide Bus) See system bus. FSB - front side bus (TM) functional system blocks(TM) library. Targeting its offerings toward the communications, consumer digital entertainment and computing markets, the company offers its customers advanced system-level integration capabilities. The company is based in San Jose, Calif., with 1996 revenues of $717 million, and approximately 2,600 employees worldwide. Visit VLSI's homepage at http://www.vlsi.com . -0- Note to Editors: FSB, functional system blocks and System-Level Silicon are trademarks of VLSI Technology Inc. All other brand or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. CONTACT: VLSI Technology Martin Chorich, 408/922-5155 martin.chorich@sanjose.vlsi.com or The Athena Group Monica Murphy, 352/371-2567 mmurphy@athena-group.com |
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